Artist thinks outside the box but within the lines

A Scottish artist has raised more than £13,000 for Mary’s Meals by releasing a special colouring book online.

Illustrator Johanna Basford has been stunned by the popularity of her downloadable Christmas Colouring mini-book, which is available in exchange for a donation to Mary’s Meals.

Ms Basford, who has sold more than 15 million books worldwide including Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, said she is keen to use her talents to benefit worthy causes, but finds it’s impossible to keep up with the many requests she receives from charities.

Instead, once a year at Christmas she selects one charity to focus her efforts on.

This year Ms Basford created a four-page mini-book of colouring images, downloadable as a PDF in return for donation amount of people’s choice.

Within four days she had already surpassed her overall target of £10,000, with the total currently standing at more than £13,000.

Mary’s Meals sets up community run school feeding programmes in areas where hunger and poverty often prevent children from attending school. Until December 28, the UK Government will double any donations made to Mary’s Meals from within the UK.

“My husband James met Magnus [MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and CEO of the charity] at a dinner and came home filled with so much passion for the work of Mary’s Meals,” Ms Basford said. “The simple idea of encouraging children to attend school by making sure they have enough to eat when they get there really appeals to me, and the fact that it’s possible to feed a hungry child for a whole school year with just £12.20 is amazing.

“I love what I do and if I can help raise awareness about this wonderful work and encourage people to donate and improve the future for the next generation of children, then I’m all for that!”

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and CEO of Mary’s Meals, said: “This is such a beautiful way to support Mary’s Meals! We have already downloaded Johanna’s amazing Christmas Colours minibook in our household and we’re looking forward to some hugely enjoyable colouring.

“It is amazing to see Johanna inviting her enormous and devoted fan base to support Mary’s Meals in this way. She is making lots of people happy—those who love her work, and those children who will be able to eat and go to school next year because of her kindness. This is a very special Christmas gift to Mary’s Meals!”